Display stand



March 23, 1943 J. J.,JA BSQN 2,314,500

DI SPLAY STAND Filed April 16, 1941 Ennentor JAMES L JACODSON '6 A BB v Fl 5 0 5 v Gttorneg Patented Mar. 23, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 'DISPLAY STAND James J. Jacobson, New York, N. Y. Application April 16, 1941, Serial 'No. 388,809

7 Claims.

This invention relates to display stands for bottled goods.

One of the objects of the present invention is theprovision of a display stand constructed to support in an attractive display a plurality of bottles or other articles substantially without concealment of said bottles or articles or substantial parts thereof and with minimum exposure of the stand structure especially at the front of the stand,

Another object of the invention is to provide a display stand which is substantially pilfer-proof;

i. e., the bottles or other articles carried by said stand cannot be removed without attracting attention. Further, in this connection, an important feature of theinvention resides in the provision of a stand which supports the bottles or other articles in such manner that they are prevented from being readily removed surreptitiously and whereby the means for preventing such removal is of such character as not to impair labels, tax stamps, strip seals, etc., carried by the bottles.

A- furtherobject of the invention is the provision of a display stand which is constructed and arranged to support a plurality of bottles or other articles at different levels and in an attractive arrangement.

A further object of the invention is to provide a display stand which can be mounted on a counter at the forward end thereof, which is usually the choice display spot in a store, without danger of any of the bottles carried by the stand being surreptitiously removed.

The above objects of the invention and other objects which might hereafter appear and the invention itself will best be understood from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a display stand embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a rear view of the said display standi- Fig. 3 is an end view thereof;

Figs. 4 and 5 are top and bottom views; respectively, of the display stand, the bottles being removed;

Fig. 6 is a view on the line 66 of Fig. 1 of one of the bottles and of the releasable locking device.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the display stand I ll embodying the present inventionis formed principally of metal wires or rods of substantial gauge whereby the stand is of rugged construction but of relatively lightweight.

As here shown, saidstand comprises a frame having a base l2 formed of a metal wire or rod bent into the configuration shown, whereby said base includes a longitudinally extending rear part I4 and integral .U-shaped parts l6 disposed in spaced relation at the opposite ends of the base, A lower article support or tray I8 is welded and: thereby secured to base I 2 and, more particularly, to the legs of U-shaped parts l6 thereof. Said tray comprises the longitudinally extending bottom rods 20 disposed in laterally spaced relation and having at both ends thereof upturned end portions 22 to which a peripherally continuous rod or wire 24 is secured in position above the. plane of rods 20. A strut rod 25 is secured between rods 20 and 24 at the front of the stand to prevent flexing of the front part of rod 24. Tray or support I8 as thus constructed comprises a bottom constituted by rods 20 and a rail or side constituted by said peripherally continu ous rod 24.

A triangular frame part 23 isfixed to base l2, in upstanding relation thereto. ,Said triangular frame part is formed of a wire or of. a metal rod bent into'triangular shape and welded at its ends and is secured to said base by welding the base 28 of said triangular frame part to the U-shaped members I6 of the base. Cross rods 30 and 32 are connected, preferably by welding, at their opposite ends to the opposite vertically. disposed sides 34 of triangular frame part 26.

and are arranged as shown in vertically spaced.

relation or at different levels above the base of the stand. vA central vertical rod 36 extendsv from the top of triangular frame part 26 to the; bottom of the stand where the lower end of said member 36 is Welded to part I 4 of the base, the. upper end of vertical rod 36 isiwelded to a cross piece 38 which in turn is welded to the upper.

ends of side rods 34.. Said .rod 36 is also welded.

ferent levels and in such manner that it is very-- difiicult, if not impossible, for any one to remove one or more of the bottles surreptitiously without attracting the attention of someone in the store. The bottlesB in the lowermost row are supported on the bottom of tray l8 hereinbefore described and the stand is preferably designed in relation to the shape of the bottles displayed whereby as in the case with the bottles here shown, the opposite sides of said bottles are engaged by or lie close to the opposite sides, respectively, of rail 24. The means for supporting the bottles at the higher levels comprises horizontally disposed U-shaped members 44 and 46 formed of metal bars or of rigid narrow strips of metal. Said members 44 are carried by red and as shown are disposed in spaced relation longitudinally of said rod, the upturned rear ends 48 of said members 44 being welded to rod 30. U-shaped supporting member 46 is carried Thy cross rod 32 and is secured to the latter centrally thereof in the same way as members 44. The forward upturned ends 50 of members 44 andithe -forward upturned end 52 of member 46 are arranged to overlap the bottom portions of the companion bottles, respectively, at the ifront .of the stand whereby o prevent forward .movement of said bottles. In other words, the bottles supported by .U -shaped members 44 and .46 substantially fit in the space between the upturned .ends of said U-shaped members. It willboobservedthateach of the U-shaped members .44 .and 4B constitutes a bottle or other articlesupport and is arranged to support .an article at :an .upper level between two articles positioned at .the next lower level whereby the .upper portions of two articles at .a lower level extend upwardly .beyond the bottom of the article at .theupper level-and-then overlap the lower .portionof thearticle at the next upper level.

Provision is made for engaging the upper parts of the articles .or, morespecifically, the necks of the bottles or the upper ends of otherarticles for normally preventing upward and front to rear movement of said articles. The means provided for this purpose comprises a plurality of ring members fixedly secured to the stand in position whereby the necks of the bottles when arranged on the stand project through the openings in said ring-shaped members. More particularly, the neck-retaining means .for the uppermost bottle comprises airing 154 formed integral with and projecting ,from the upper end of rod 35,. 'The neckreta ning means for the bottles of the next lower level are constituted by ring members 56 carried by short rods .58 welded to and projecting forwardly of side rods 34, respectively. The neckretaining means ,for the end bottles supported on tray 18 comprise rings 50 and 62 each fixed to a companion short rod 64 which is welded .to and projects forwardly of the adjacent side rod 34 of triangu ar frame part 26. it will be observed by reference to Fig. "1 that ring members 60 and 62 are incl ned upwardly in a direction toward each other, the purpose of this arrangement being to facilitate the insertion and removal of the bottles from the stand in the loading and unloading of the'latter.

A special releasable retaining or locking device 65 is provided for the center bottle supported by tray I8. Said locking device comprises a neckretaining member or ring 66 which is fixed to a rod 68, as illustrated in Fig. 6. Said locking device has a lower looped end 10 which as shown is bent upwardly and engages rail 24 at the back of the stand. The upwardly extending part of looped end 16 of the locking member is adapted to tightly engage the adjacent side of the center bottle whereby to make it difficult to move the locking member longitudinally of rail 24. In order to remove the bottle held by the locking device it is necessary to flex the rear side of rail 24 upwardly to permit the disengagement therefrom of the looped end it of the locking device. While said side of the rail is rather stiff it is sufficiently resilient to permit said disengagement of the locking device therefrom, but it will be understood that it is comparatively diflicult to release the locking device from rail 24 and that it is impossible to accomplish this surreptitiously, that is without attracting the attention of one of the salesmen or other store attendants.

.In case one or more bottles are to be sold from the display or when it is necessary to remove one mere of said bottles, the locking device for the center bottle is released as described above. This permits 'said center bottle to be removed easily at the front of the stand. When the center bottle carried by tray I8 is removed either or both of the other two bottles can be readily removed from said tray by moving thebottom of the .bottle"toward the center of the tray thereby tilting the bottle, after which the bottle can .be removed by withdrawing the neck thereof from the companion ring. The above mounting of said rings in inclined position facilitates this withdrawal of .the bottle. The bottles at .the intermediate level can be easily removed by moving the bottom thereof toward thecenter of the stand and turning the bottle about at its longitudinal .axis, after which the bottle .can be withdrawn tromits companion neck-retaining member or ring 'by moving the bottle downwardly between U-shaped members 44. Thus, in order .to remove any one or .all of the bottles from tray [8 .and from the supporting members 44 it is necessary only to remove the center bottlefrom tray l8. In order, however, to remove the top bottle it is necessary to first remove one .of thebottles in the next lower level from its supporting member 44, .and when one of said last. mentioned bottles is removed the top bottle can be readily removed from the stand by moving the bottom of said top bottle laterally of its supporting member 46 toward the position previously occupied by .the removed bottle of the next lower level, said movement being sufficient to permit the bottle to be turned about its longitudinal axis. When the top bottle is thus moved laterally of its supporting member 46 and is thereafter turned 90 about its longitudinal axis .it can be released from its companion neck-retaining member or ring by movingthe bottle downwardly toward the base of the stand.

For loading the stand with bottles, the reverse of the above described operation .of removing the bottles is required. In other words, the stand must be loaded from the top to the bottom thereof, the top bottle being placed in position first, after which the bottles in the next lower level are mounted in position in engagement with their companion bottle supports and neck-retaining means, following which the two end bottles are placed in position on tray IS in engagement with their ring members, and finally the center bottle is placed in position on tray 18 and the locking member engaged therewith and with rail 24 of said tray.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that the latter is capable of other embodiments and that in the embodiment illustrated and described herein, certain changes in the details of construction and in the arrangement and form of the parts may be made and that the stand can be made of other materials besides wires or rods.

Also, it will be understood that while the stand as disclosed herein is especially suitable for bottles or similar shaped articles, stands embodying my invention can be used for displaying other articles. Further, it will be understood that bottles of various shapes may be displayed. Therefore, I do not wish to be limited to the use of the stand for displaying bottles or to the stand construction herein shown or described, except to the extent which may be required by the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A display stand comprising a plurality of article-supports positioned in vertical spaced relation, each of said article-supports which is positioned at an upper level being arranged to support an article between two articles positioned at the next lower level whereby the upper portions of two articles at a lower level extend upwardly beyond and thereby overlap the lower portion of an article at an upper level, and means engageable with the upper parts of said articles, respectively, on said supports for preventing upward movement of the articles at said higher level sufficient to clear the articles at the next lower level, respectively, said last mentioned means being positioned near the supporting means of the next higher level and spaced laterally thereof in position to prevent lateral movement of the upper parts of the companion articles, respectively, whereby to limit lateral movement of the lower parts of the adjacent articles, respectively, which are supported at said higher level.

2. A display stand comprising a plurality of supports disposed at different levels for supporting a plurality of bottles at different levels and means engageable with the necks of said bottles, said means having openings through which the necks of the bottles, respectively, project when the bottles are mounted on said supports, for preventing removal of the bottles by movement thereof upwardly from their respective supports, said neck-engaging means for one of the bottles at the lowermost level being releasable in order to permit the removal of the companion bottle from the stand, said other bottles being non-removable from the stand unless said one of the bottles is first removed.

3. A display stand comprising a lower support, a wire frame having a bottom part secured to said support and side parts in fixed relation to said bottom and upstanding therefrom at longitudinally spaced points thereof, a vertically spaced cross member connected to said side parts of said frame, and article-supporting members fixed at their rear ends, respectively, to said cross member at longitudinally spaced points thereof and projecting forwardly in horizontal position over and above said lower support, and a plurality of ring members connected to said frame for engagement with the upper parts of the articles supported on said article-supporting members, the means con.- necting one of said ring members being releasable from the frame to permit removal of the com: panion article from the stand, said other articles being non-removable from the stand unless said one of the ring members is first released.

4. A display stand comprising a lower support,

a wire frame having a bottom part secured to said support and side parts in fixed relation to said bottom and upstanding therefrom at longitudinally spaced points thereof, a vertically spaced cross member connected to said side parts of said frame, and article-supporting members fixed at their rear ends, respectively, tosaid cross member at longitudinally spaced points thereof and projecting forwardly in horizontal position over and above said lower support, and ring members connected to said frame and positioned above said article-supporting members, respectively, for engagement with the upper parts of the articles supported on said article-supporting members, one of said ring members being releasable from the frame to permit removal of the companion article from the stand, said other articles being non-removable from the stand unless said one of the ring members is first released.

5. A display stand comprising a lower support, a wire frame having a bottom part secured to said support and side parts in fixed relation to said bottom and upstanding therefrom at longitudinally spaced points thereof, a vertically spaced cross member connected to said side parts of said frame, and article-supporting members fixed at their rear ends, respectively, to said cross member at longitudinally spaced points thereof and projecting forwardly in horizontal position over and above said lower support, a second cross rod connected to said frame and positioned above said first mentioned cross rod, and an articlesupporting member fixed at its rear end to said second cross rod and projecting forwardly in horizontal position above said lower support at a higher level than said first mentioned articlesupporting members and at position intermediate the space between the latter, a plurality of ring members connected to said frame and positioned above said first mentioned article-supporting" members for engaging the articles supported on the latter, and a ring member connected to said frame and positioned above said last mentioned article-supporting member for engaging the article supported on the latter, one of said ring members being releasable from the frame to permit removal of the companion article from the stand, said other articles being non-removable from the stand unless said one'of the ring members is first released.

6. A display stand comprising a lower support, a wire frame having a bottom part secured to said support and side parts in fixed relation to said bottom and upstanding therefrom at longitudinally spaced points thereof, a vertically spaced cross rod connected to said side parts of said frame, article-supporting members fixed at their rear ends, respectively, to said cross rod at longitudinally spaced points thereof and projecting forwardly in horizontal position over and above said lower support, a second cross rod connected,

to said frame and positioned above said first mentioned cross rod, an article-supporting member fixed at its rear end to said second cross rod and projecting forwardly in horizontal position above said lower support at a higher level than said first mentioned article-supporting members and at a position intermediate the space between the latter, and ring members connected to said frame and positioned above said article-supporting members, respectively, for engagement with the upper parts of the articles supported by said article-supporting members, one of said ring members being releasable from the frame to permit removal of the companion article from the stand, said other articles being non-removable from the stand unless said one of the ring members is first released.

7. A display stand comprising a tray for supporting a bottle, said tray having a side rail above the bottom of the tray, and means for releasably securing said bottle on said supporting means comprising a ring member engageable with said bottle around its neck, and a flexible rod fixed to said ring member and extending downwardly therefrom and provided at its lower end with an upwardly extending portion forming a looped end portion releasably engageable with a part of said rail for releasably securing said ring member against bottle-releasing movement thereof,

said looped end portion being engageable with and disengageable from said rail part by flexing of 5 said rod.

' J AlVIES J. J ACOBSON. 

